In celebration of NAIDOC Week, CSIRO’s Dr Cass Hunter will deliver the 2011 Jack Cusack Memorial Lecture, named for CSIRO’s longest serving Indigenous staff member.
Jack Cusack was an expert botanist who, working from CSIRO’s Darwin Laboratory, made an extremely valuable contribution to Australia’s research effort in the north over three decades, and his spirit in embodied in the work of Dr Cass Hunter.
“Cass Hunter is one of the new generation of Indigenous researchers who are able to bridge the divide that sometimes exists between traditional knowledge and Western science,” says Greg Davison of CSIRO’s Office of Indigenous Engagement.
“She great at communicating complex science issues in both directions, and her career demonstrates the contribution Indigenous people have to make to Australia’s big science questions.”
Dr Cass Hunter is a descendant of the Kuku-Yalanji people in far north Queensland and has family connections to the Torres Strait. Growing up in regional places provided the landscape to help her develop an interest in caring for and understanding our environment.
After winning an Indigenous cadetship with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric research in Brisbane while studying marine science at University of Queensland, she made a move to CSIRO’s Hobart laboratory to pursue her PhD researching the approaches and relationships useful for characterising behaviour and predicting the catch composition of Tasmanian rock lobster within traps.
Hunter returned to her family’s traditional lands after completing her PhD, where her ongoing research looks at tools to predict the impact that exposure to threats, including climate change, has on marine life in the Torres Strait.
Call 6246 4646 to book your seat. FREE.
Where: Optus Lecture Theatre, CSIRO Discovery, Clunies Ross Street, ACTON ACT
(light refreshments to follow)
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